Her Life, My Life

A long time ago, I knew this young girl
Her life was like a big hurricane whorl
Life was rough; the world gave her bruises that ended in scars
From her drug addict stepdad who stripped away her innocence & never put behind bars
To her domestically abused mom who stayed depressed & tried to take her life
And her biological dad who penetrated her heart like a knife
Because he jumped in & out of her life
Her life was such a big mess
It was filled by minute my minute of stress
Her mom finally realized her stepdad’s deepest secrets and lies
They divorced and the young girl didn’t care to say her goodbyes
She was so relieved that some of that darkness was out of her way
It felt like her life could turn from horrible to being really okay
Bad memories flash before her from time to time
Overcoming past issues is big mountain she has to climb
I heard she is doing pretty well now, her future is looking bright
We all have awful life memories, we wish we could rewrite
I will never be perfect or untainted, you see
Life isn’t, neither can anyone ever claim to be.

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Editor’s Note

The number one question our editors receive is—what do the editors and judges look for when judging the contest? The number one answer we give is creativity. Unlike prose, writing composed in everyday language, poetry is considered a creative art and requires a different type of effort and a certain level of depth. Of the thousands of poems entered in each contest, the ones that catch our judges’ eyes are the ones that remove us, even just slightly, from the scope of everyday life by using language that is interesting, specific, vivid, obscure, compelling, figurative, and so on. Oftentimes, poems are pulled aside for a second look based simply on certain words that intrigued the reader. So first and foremost, be sure your poetry is written using creative language. Take general ideas and make them personal. In his infamous book De/Compositions: 101 Good Poems Gone Wrong, W. D. Snodgrass imparts, “We cannot honestly discuss or represent our lives, any more than our poems, without using ideational language.”